• College Scorecard

This website was directed under President Obama’s administration and has a Consumer Reports-style for U.S. college rankings.      Aside from some general information on a school, an international student also can see how much its students could earn 10 years after entering the school.     The College Scorecard allows its users to compare colleges by annual cost, by salaries earned after graduation, by location, by school size, and some other parameters.

However, the major drawback of the College Scorecard is the data used are gathered from students who received federal financial aid.    In this case, the search result on the website  could be somewhat misleading.     Even so, we think it has tremendous data for your reference.

• National Center for Education Statistics 

  (NCES): There are many things that this website could offer.    ” The NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations,” according to NCES.  The three services listed below are most related to your college selection.

1. College Navigator: This is more sophisticated than ‘Search for Schools and Colleges.’   There are over 7,000 schools in the search database.     You may define the maximum tuition & fees or choose the campus setting for your need.
2. Search for Schools and Colleges: It allows you to select the state, type in the city or the name of a school and click ‘Search.’    You also could narrow down your search by selecting ‘public schools’ ‘private schools’ or ‘colleges.’
3. NCES Blog: You have the immediate access to most updated NCES’s blog publication.
4. Institution Search: A web page to find the list of accredited colleges in a particular state.